Facebook open-sources Pop

Facebook open-sources Pop

Facebook will host its first developer-oriented conference since its IPO therefore, we can expect a bunch of announcements in the lead up to this event. The first of these announcements is the open-sourcing of Pop, the animation engine behind its Paper app.

Facebook launched Paper about three months ago as a new way for people to read and enjoy their News Feed content in an image-rich, magazine-like interface. The app also has smooth transitions and animations, derived from mobile app-maker Push Pop Press’ technology. Pop uses dynamic instead of traditional animations to create the various interactions found in Paper.

Facebook designed Pop to be an extensible framework, with Developers plugging in their own code to create custom and unique animations and effects, offering huge flexibility and scope to the framework.

Pop is one of many pieces of software to become open-sourced by Facebook including KVOController, Shimmer, and Tweaks for iOS. It will be interesting to see what further announcements Facebook make in the lead up to the conference.